GB2294084A

GB2294084A - Fixing assemblies

Info

Publication number: GB2294084A
Application number: GB9420772A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Christopher Terrell
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1994-10-14
Filing date: 1994-10-14
Publication date: 1996-04-17
Anticipated expiration: 2014-10-14
Also published as: GB9420772D0; GB2294084B

Abstract

An assembly for securing rod-like members 51, 52 in the fabrication of structures such as bicycle carrying racks, luggage trolleys and lighting support systems, etc. A moulded plastic base 45 has slots defined therein arranged to receive substantially U-shaped members 54, 55. Each U-shaped member has a wall portion and a base portion defining wall edges and a base edge. Rod-like members are locatable against wall edges of said U-shaped members and held in place by a fixing device such as a threaded bolt. The bolt extends through the moulded plastic base and thereby facilitates secure attachment of two rods to a plastic base or to an appropriate base material. <IMAGE>

Description

FIXING ASSEMBLY The present invention relates to an assembly for securing a rod-like member.

Many fixing assemblies are known for securing rod-like members in which the rod-like member will subsequently form a structural component of a much bigger assembly.

For example, a fixing assembly for a rod-like member is disclosed in U.K. Patent Publication 2,041,063. In this disclosure, the fixing assembly takes the form of a metal strip, having a bush threaded at one end and an aperture defined at the opposing end, arranged to receive said bush. The metal strip is folded so as to define a frame and the bush is received within the aperture. A rod-like member may then be inserted within the frame and secured to said frame by means of a screw or similar device.

A problem with this known device is that the manufacturing process for defining the metal strip is quite involved. As can readily be appreciated, if the metal strip is to provide a resilient fixing, a significant amount of force is required in order to bend it into its desired shape. Furthermore, although capable of securing a single rod-like member, problems are still encountered in terms of securing the rod-like member to another object. Thus, for example, if two rod-like members are inserted within the strip, it is unlikely that sufficient resilience will be provided to torsional forces and it is likely that any fastening of reasonable size would tend to become dislodged.

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided an assembly for securing a rod-like member, comprising substantially Ushaped members each having wall portions and a base portion defining wall edges and a base edge, wherein said rod-like member is locatable against one of said wall edges; a second rod-like member is locatable in juxtaposition with said securable rod-like member; and a fixing device is insertable between said first securable rod-like member and said second rod-like member so as to force said rod-like members towards said base edge.

An advantage of the present invention is that it can be fabricated from parts machinable using modest tools. Thus, the device lends itself to fabrication in environments with limited resources or under hostile conditions.

Furthermore, when disassembled, the components have modest space requirements. Furthermore, once secured, the assembly is resilient to the application of tensional forces, compressive forces, shear forces and torsional forces.

In a preferred embodiment, two U-shaped members are positioned such that said fixing device is insertable between said U-shaped members.

Preferably, said U-shaped members are defined as substantially flat elements locatable within slots defined within a base member. In this way, the fixing device may be inserted through said base member so as to be secured against said base member.

The assembly is particularly suitable for use in the fabrication of carrying racks, such as a load carrying racks mountable on bicycles.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a bicycle having a front wheel, a rear wheel and a frame, a load carrying rack mountable above said rear wheel, said rack comprising a load carrying platform and rod-like members securable to said platform for attaching said rack to said bicycle frame, wherein each rod-like member is secured to said platform by a securing assembly, comprising substantially U-shaped members each having wall portions and a base portion defining wall edges and a base edge, wherein a first rod-like member is locatable against one of said wall edges; a second rod-like member is locatable in juxtaposition with said first rod-like member; and a fixing device is insertable between said rod-like members and through a portion of said load carrying rack, so as to force said rod-like members towards said base edge.

In a preferred embodiment, a rack base has a plurality of fixing assemblies mounted thereon, each arranged to secure rod-like members so as to define a structure. In addition, similar fixing assemblies may be provided so as to allow said structure to be attached to the bicycle frame, possibly at the point where the rear wheel is secured to said frame.

Preferably, the rod-like members include notches, so that co-operating notches are aligned and said fixing device is inserted through said aligned notches.

The invention will now be described by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying figures, in which: Figure 1 shows an assembly for securing rod-like members, having a pair of substantially U-shaped members and a fixing device; Figure 2 shows an alternative view of the fixing assembly shown in Figure 1; Figure 3 shows a cross section through arrows III-III of Figure 2; Figure 4 shows a bicycle carrying rack, having fixing assemblies of the type shown in Figure 1; Figure 5 shows details of the fixing assembly of the type shown in Figure 1 being used on the bicycle rack shown in Figure 4; Figure 6 shows a detail of the fixing assembly shown in Figure 5; Figure 7 shows an alternative view of the detail shown in Figure 6.

Figure 8 details an alternative arrangement for a bicycle carrying rack.

Preferred embodiments will now be described with reference to a specific application of the securing assembly, when used in the fabrication of a bicycle carrying rack. However, it will be appreciated that the fixing assembly may be used in many other applications, with modifications made to the scale of the assembly as so required.

A fixing assembly is shown in Figure 1 and is generally configured to facilitate the fixing of three components. The fixing assembly includes two substantially U-shaped members 15, spaced apart as shown in Figure 2. Each U-shaped member 15 has wall portions 16 and a base portion 17, defining wall edges 18 and a base edge 19 respectively.

A first rod-like member 21 is located within the U-shaped member along with a second rod-like member 22. Depending upon the application, one of said rod-like members may extend to be locatable against other parts of a structure, while a second rod-like member may be similarly locatable or, alternatively, it may be of shorter length so as to provide a complete securable assembly for the first rod-like member, as illustrated in Figure 1.

A fixing device in the form of a bolt 23 is inserted between the rodlike members such that a head 24 of the bolt forces the rod-like members towards the base edge of said U-shaped members. As shown in Figure 1, the size of the U-shaped members is such that the rod-like members will lodge against the wall edges 18 of the U-shaped members as they are forced towards the base edge 19 of said U-shaped members. Thus, forces applied to said rod-like members are directed against the walls of said U-shaped members.

The bolt extends beyond the U-shaped members and is located through a base member, not shown in Figure 1 and attached to said base member via a washer 25 and a securing nut 26.

An alternative view of the securing device shown in Figure 1 is illustrated in Figure 2. As shown in Figure 2, the rod-like members include a series of notches 26, such that the bolt 23 is locatable within a co-operating pair of said notches. Thus, the rod-like members are resiliently held by the bolt but at the same time the position of said rod-like members may be adjusted provided that notches 26 in each of said members are in alignment at the position at which the bolt 23 engages.

The profile of notches 26 is illustrated in Figure 3, which is a cross section along line III-III.

Application of the securing device to a bicycle carrying rack is shown in Figure 4. Devices of the type shown in Figures 1 to 3 are provided at a plurality of positions on the carrying rack, including positions 41, 42 and 43.

Once located, the protruding elements of the connection assembly are covered by a protecting cap 44.

Connection assembly 41 illustrated in Figure 4 is detailed in Figure 5.

A first solid and substantially cylindrical aluminium rod 51 is secured against a second similar rod 52. A base platform 45 consists of a plastic moulding, having a plurality of voids 46 therein so as to reduce its overall weight. The base platform is moulded with slots defined therein arranged to receive Ushaped members identified as 15 in Figure 1 and shown specifically as 53 and 54 in Figure 5. The U-shaped members may be cast or, preferably, machined from mild steel plate, such that the level of working is minimal. In this way, even the most intricate components of the assembly may be engineered using modest workshop facilities.

Referring to Figure 4, the rods define a substantially triangular structure, each rod defining two sides of said triangle, with an overlapping region being provided where the rods are fixed against the platform. The rods are then connected at a co-operating corner of the triangle and held together by a similar fixing assembly 47, detailed in Figure 7.

Returning to Figure 5, a bolt head 56 is shown, which is secured to a co-operating nut or similar tapped bush within the platform 45, by means of an allen key. If preferred, the bolt head may have a slot or star for application of a suitable screwdriver or said head may have suitable flat edges, defining a square or a hexagon for example, for application of a suitable spanner.

In normal applications, the bolt would be tightened to such an extent that it makes a slight indention into the notches formed in the aluminium rods.

The position of the bolt head 56 with respect to the rod-like members 51 and 52 is also detailed in Figure 6. Thus, it can be appreciated that upon tightening the bolt by application of a suitable allen key etc., the rods 51 and 52 are forced towards the base of the U-shaped members, thereby bringing them closer together due to the angle of the wall portions. Thus, when tightened, forces are exerted upon the rods 51 and 52 which are directed towards the wall portions of the U-shaped members which in turn are supported by the base platform.

It is desirable in the bicycle application to reduce the weight of the structure while retaining its rigidity. An alternative moulding for the platform is shown in Figure 8 in which the internal space of the platform itself is defined by a substantially honeycombed arrangement 81. Slots 82 are moulded within the platform structure, thereby facilitating the application of fixing assemblies at positions 83.

The use of fixing assemblies of the type shown in Figure 1 for fabricating a bicycle rack provides an advantage to the effect that the component parts may be flat-packed and, when so packed, take up minimal space for transportation purposes and display purposes. Thus, transportation costs are reduced when compared to similar devices having welded structures.

The device facilitates assembly without requiring complex machined parts. Furthermore, the securing devices themselves are substantially similar, thereby reducing the component count and facilitating intuitive assembly once the mode of operation has been appreciated on the part of the assembler.

Thus, it is readily appreciated that any one with a modest appreciation of bicycle mechanics would easily be in a position to assemble the device.

Furthermore, the construction is inherently flexible in that the position of the rods may be easily adjusted prior to the fixing bolts being finally secured.

Thus, it is envisaged that a modest range of products would allow racks of the type illustrated in Figure 4 to be applied to a wide range of bicycle sizes.

The fixing list assembly described herein has many other implications in addition to its application in a bicycle carrying frame. For example the assembly could be used to fabricate a lightweight luggage trolley, a lighting support system or boating systems, including sailboats and motorboats etc.

Claims

1. An assembly for securing a rod-like member, comprising substantially U-shaped members each having wall portions and a base portion defining wall edges and a base edge, wherein said rod-like member is locatable against one of said wall edges; a second rod-like member is locatable in juxtaposition with said securable rod-like member; and a fixing device is insertable between said first securable rod-like member and said second rod-like member so as to force said rod-like members towards said base edge.

2. An assembly according to claim 1, wherein two U-shaped members are positioned such that said fixing device is insertable between said U-shaped members.

3. An assembly according to claim 2, wherein said U-shaped members are defined as substantially flat elements locatable within slots defined within a base member.

4. An assembly according to claim 2, wherein said U-shaped members are defined as substantially flat elements which are welded to a base member of similar material.

5. An assembly according to claim 3 or claim 4, wherein said fixing device is inserted through said base member and is secured against said base member.

6. An assembly according to claim 5, wherein said fixing device is a bolt having a bolt head, a thread extending from said head and a nut locatable on said thread.

7. An assembly according to claim 6, wherein said bolt head is secured against said rod-like members and said nut is tightened against said base member.

8. An assembly according to any of claims 3 to 7, wherein a base member has a plurality of fixing assemblies mounted thereon, each arranged to secure rod-like members so as to define a structure.

9. An assembly according to claim 8, wherein said base member provides a load carrying platform and rod-like members extend from said platform.

10. An assembly according to claim 9, wherein said extending rodlike members are located against a load carrying structure by additional fixing assemblies.

11. An assembly according to claim 9 or claim 10, wherein said load carrying platform is attached to a bicycle.

12. An assembly according to any of claims 1 to 11, wherein said rod-like members include notches, such that co-operating notches are aligned and said fixing device is inserted through said aligned notches.

13. On a bicycle having a front wheel, a rear wheel and a frame, a load carrying rack mountable above said rear wheel, said rack comprising a load carrying platform and rod-like members securable to said platform for attaching said rack to said bicycle frame, wherein each rod-like member is secured to said platform by a securing assembly, comprising substantially U-shaped members each having wall portions and a base portion defining wall edges and a base edge, wherein a first rod-like member is locatable against one of said wall edges; a second rod-like member is locatable in juxtaposition with said first rod-like member; and a fixing device is insertable between said rod-like members and through a portion of said load carrying rack, so as to force said rod-like members towards said base edge.

14. A bicycle rack according to claim 13, wherein two U-shaped members are positioned such that said fixing device is insertable between said U-shaped members.

15. A bicycle rack according to claim 14, wherein said U-shaped members are defined as substantially flat elements locatable within slots defined within a base member.

16. A bicycle rack according to claim 15, wherein said fixing device is insertable through said base member and is secured against said base member.

17. A bicycle rack according to claim 16, wherein said fixing device is a bolt having a bolt head, a thread extending from said head and a nut locatable on said thread.

18. A bicycle rack according to claim 17, wherein said bolt head is securable against said rod-like members and said nut is locatable against said base member.

19. A bicycle rack according to any of claims 15 to 18, wherein a base member of said rack has a plurality of fixing assemblies mounted thereon, each arranged to secure rod-like members so as to define a structure.

20. A bicycle rack according to claim 19, including additional fixing assemblies arranged to mount said rack to said bicycle frame.

21. An assembly for securing rod-like members substantially as herein described with reference to Figures 1, 2 and 3.

22. A bicycle carrying rack substantially as herein described with reference to Figures 4, 5, 6 and 7.